


A Second Heartbeat

by TheFoolsKnight



Series: Lbotw Countdown Event [4]
Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Animal Transformation, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Gen, How Do I Tag, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26107621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsKnight/pseuds/TheFoolsKnight
Summary: A chaotic morning in the Lightwood-Bane household featuring magic, magic, and more magic - and a special new cat.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Max Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Lbotw Countdown Event [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890874
Comments: 10
Kudos: 96





	A Second Heartbeat

Alec woke up to the sound of faint crying from the baby monitor.

He got out of bed and stretched, his spine cracking as he bent sideways. On the bed, Magnus was still fast asleep, having stayed up late to take care of Max. A small smile came up on Alec's face and he leaned over, pecking Magnus on the cheek before leaving the room.

After a quick diaper change and a lot of mollycoddling, Alec stepped out into the living room with Max in his arms. He left Max on the playmat and went into the kitchen to prepare Max's formula. As he worked, he could hear Max moving around in the living room, and the occasional clanging sound which indicated that he was throwing his toys around.

Alec prepared a quick coffee for himself and a bottle of formula for Max. Downing his coffee in one go - one advantage of being a Shadowhunter was that burns from hot food were insignificant - and stepped out to feed Max.

Max, Alec noticed, had crawled away from the playmat and was sitting somewhat close to where Alec kept his weapons. His stele had rolled away from the stock, and Alec's eyes widened when he saw Max reaching out to grab the stele.

"Max, no!" Alec yelled, running to stop him. Adamas would burn his skin. He couldn't afford to let his baby get hurt.

Max turned at the sound, his eyes wide as he took in Alec running towards him. He held up a hand, and Alec's mouth fell open when he felt his legs go out under him. There were blue sparks flitting about his body, a few shades lighter than Magnus's, and Alec relaxed when he realised that it was just Max's magic.

"Maxie," Alec said softly, looking into Max's eyes. "Put me down."

Max only stared at him, unable to comprehend his words.

"Put me down," Alec repeated, pointing to the ground. Max's eyes flickered to the ground, and he made a random gesture with his hand.

Unfortunately, it didn't have the intended effect. For a moment, Alec thought that nothing had happened, but then something hit him in the head. He gasped and spun around, and saw that all of Max's toys were now floating in the air as well, flying around the room. Max giggled, and Alec almost groaned at the thought of spending the whole day floating around.

But then he realised that he  _ could  _ move instead of just floating idly. He experimentally waved his arms and legs, testing their motility. He could move well enough, but it was as if gravity didn't work on him. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything nearby to grab on to, so he was stuck floating there for a while.

"Max," Alec said, leaning towards him and holding out the bottle of formula. "Come on, drink."

Max took one look at the bottle and turned his face away.

"Oh, come on, now, don't be like that," Alec protested. "Max, come here."

Max made a faint noise of protest and tried to crawl away. Alec yelped and flailed his arms, just barely managing to grab the sleeve of Max's onesie.

"Gotcha." Alec grinned. He pulled himself closer to Max and picked him up, ignoring his whine of protest.

He somehow managed to pull himself into a sitting position and fed Max the formula, though it was an odd situation. He could feel Max's magic surround him, holding him up. It felt safe, just like Magnus's did.

It wasn't the first time Max utilized his magic, intentionally or otherwise. He and Magnus had found him floating in the nursery several times, fast asleep and completely oblivious to his situation. One time, when he was still in a sleepy daze, Alec found a bat in the cradle and nearly screamed. It took him several minutes and a magical checkup by Magnus for him to realize that the bat was actually Max. 

Right now, Alec focused on staying perfectly still as he held Max in his arms. Max waved his arms about as he drank, making the toys fly around in circles. Max’s eyes were wide and full of wonder as he watched the toy airplanes and dinosaurs fly around, blue sparks trailing them like comet tails. Alec’s heart softened at the sight. He was familiar with magic, to the point where it felt like a second heartbeat sometimes. Any other Shadowhunter might have felt uncomfortable in this situation, but not Alec. 

An hour or so had passed when Alec finally heard the rustling of covers from his and Magnus’s bedroom.

He sighed in relief. Alec had let Max down onto the floor after feeding him, and he crawled around the floor, letting more magic loose. Luckily Alec’s phone was in his pocket, so he managed to bid his time while keeping an eye on Max at the same time, making sure he never ventured towards his weapons. He’d tried to move, but while he could move his body, he couldn’t exactly move sideways or up and down without a leverage, which he had none of. Now that Magnus was awake, he could hopefully set this straight.

Max was on the ground, playing with two plush dinosaurs. He appeared to be making them fight, both the toys sparking with blue magic. The toys slipped out of Max’s grasp, but stayed floating, and Max laughed.

Magnus stepped out, dressed in only a golden silk robe and underwear, and stopped short when he saw the scene in front of him.

“What’s going on?” Magnus asked, his eyes flicking all around the room and then settling on Alec. “And why do you have pink hair?”

“I have  _ what?”  _ Alec asked, reaching up to touch his hair. Of all the things he had expected Magnus to comment on, his hair definitely wasn't it.

For instance, there were the toys zipping around the room, the Chairman sitting on the couch nearby with his fur dyed a violent neon yellow, the random toads hopping around on the floor, not to mention Alec himself floating in the middle of the room in a blurb of blue magic.

Magnus's lips curved up into an amused smile. "Trying out a new look, darling?" 

Alec snorted. "I wish. Do you think you can reverse this?"

Magnus raised his eyebrows and pulled back his sleeves. "Darling, I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn. I can-"

But Magnus didn't get to finish his sentence. Max had spotted him and flailed his arms, unleashing more magic, and Alec gasped when Magnus vanished, his robes dropping to the floor in a golden heap.

"Magnus?" Alec called out, a stab of worry growing in his chest. Max blinked, confuddled, at the now empty spot and turned his attention back to the fighting plush dinosaurs. Alec stared at the robes, on the verge of panic, when the robes shifted and a tiny black head poked out of them.

It was a cat. A tiny black cat with very familiar eyes that Alec could see with his keen vision.

"Magnus?" Alec asked, his voice very low.

The cat let out a tiny, annoyed meow. Alec let out a bark of surprised laughter, hardly unable to believe it. 

"It's really you?" Alec asked, leaning downwards in his direction. Even in his current situation, Magnus's annoyed face was unmistakable. Him being a cat meant that it would be a while before Alec's feet were on the ground again, but this was worth it.

"Okay, fine, it's you alright. Come here." Alec beckoned with his hand for Magnus to come closer. Magnus stared at him for a moment, then slowly trotted forward with his head lowered. He seemed embarrassed by the whole affair.

Alec laughed and picked him up like he did Max earlier, turning on his back and letting Magnus sit on his chest.

"You're such an adorable cat," Alec cooed, petting his head. Magnus let out a growl, swatting at Alec's hand with his paws. It did nothing to deter Alec's amusement, though.

A shriek of laughter caught Alec's attention, and he looked at Max just as a rain of glitter cascaded down on the room, covering everyone with a fine layer of glitter. Alec looked at Max, who had his hands in the glitter and was tossing it all around, and then at Magnus, whose fur had turned completely glittery.

"At least he's having fun," Alec said as another peal of laughter rang out. Max was on his belly now, flapping his hands against the floor and sending clouds of glitter rising into the air. Magnus made a meowing sound which he took as an agreement.

Alec tilted his head, looking at Magnus, then tried petting him again. This time, Magnus leaned into the touch, purring enthusiastically as Alec rubbed the sensitive skin behind his ears, the way he often did with Chairman Meow. As if sensing this thought, the Chairman meowed loudly from where he was sitting, no doubt protesting this unfair division of attention.

Alec ignored him - Chairman would get his attention later, anyway, and quietly snuck out his phone, snapping a picture of Magnus. Magnus’s ears perked up at the sound of the camera snapping, and he meowed loudly in protest, belaboring Alec's chest with his paws. Not that it hurt, anyway.

Alec laughed - he was having way too much fun with this - but before he could do anything else, the magic gave out and he fell to the ground.

He groaned when he felt something land on top of him, something much heavier than a cat, and opened his eyes to see Magnus now in human form lying on top of him. Magnus propped himself up on his elbows, blinking away the after-effects of the transformation.

"Oh my God, that was so weird," he said. "I'm never teasing Simon for being a rat again."

"I don't know," Alec said, stifling his laughter. "You'd both make a good cat and rat duo."

Magnus groaned, and Alec let his laughter out this time.

"Speaking of which," Magnus said, looking at him seriously. "Delete that picture."

"No," Alec said bluntly.

" _ Alec-" _

"What? You looked cute!"

"It's not fair! I didn't get to take a picture of you with pink hair!"

Alec stuck his tongue out at Magnus. "Your loss."

Magnus muttered something under his breath and surged in, kissing Alec on the mouth. Alec gasped and tilted his face, deepening the kiss, their lips pressed firmly together. He cupped Magnus's face, experimentally brushing his fingers against the soft hair behind Magnus's ear, and was rewarded with Magnus moaning low in his throat. Alec snorted, unable to help it, and Magnus froze. Alec could feel the flat disapproving curve of his mouth against his.

"Sorry," Alec mumbled and broke out into a fit of laughter. Magnus sighed and stood up, leaving Alec to laugh by himself on the ground.

He stopped when he heard the sound of rustling cloth, and looked at Magnus, who appeared to have just pulled on his underwear and was picking up the robe.

Alec's eyes widened. He remembered that Magnus's robe had fallen off when he turned into a cat, which meant…

"Were you naked?" Alec asked. Magnus nodded with a sly smile, pulling his robe on.

"Damnit," Alec muttered.

Magnus stuck his tongue out at Alec. "Your loss. Besides, no swearing in front of-"

He broke off, looking away, and his eyes softened immediately. Alec followed his gaze and saw Max lying on his belly, clearly asleep.

"He must've exhausted himself with all the magic," Magnus muttered. 

"Yeah, I suppose he did."

All of the magical effects had faded away - Alec's hair and Chairman's fur was back to their original color, all the toys were on the ground, but the glitter and toads he had summoned still remained.

Alec got to his feet and picked Max up, taking him away to put him back in his cradle.

Later, Alec asked Magnus over breakfast, "Did you ever go all magic on the house when you were a baby?"

Magnus shrugged, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Might have. It makes more sense that my magic showed up unintentionally like this. I mean, if I was an Indonesian woman in the 1600's and walked in on my son floating around the ceiling with strange cat eyes…"

Magnus shrugged, letting the gesture complete his sentence for him. Alec sighed and reached out, ruffling Magnus's hair. 

"I don't know about all that, but you do make a cute cat."

Magnus let out an annoyed grunt, and Alec couldn't help but laugh again. He leaned in, kissing Magnus on his cheek.

"Will you let me keep the picture if I let you turn my hair pink? Only inside the house, though. Jace’s teasing will never stop if he sees me like that."

"Well, why settle for pink when there's a lot of colors available?" Magnus said gleefully, waving his fingers and letting blue sparks flicker about.

Any other Shadowhunter might have been wary of those sparks, but Alec wasn't. Magic was familiar to him, almost like a second heartbeat.

But no matter how much magic was around him, this special magic that he and Magnus shared, their  _ love,  _ was the most precious of all.


End file.
